• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.851-859
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• 2014

The present study was designed to investigate whether ethanol extracts of Sophora flavescens (GS), Glycyrrhiza uralensis (GC), Dictamnus dasycarpus (BSP), and their mixtures (GGB-1, -2, -3, and -4) inhibit 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNCB)-induced atopic dermatitis (AD) in a mouse model. DNCB was topically applied on the dorsal surface of Balb/c mice to induce AD-like skin lesions. The pathological phenotypes of AD, such as erythema, ear thickness, edema, scabs, and discharge, were significantly decreased in the GGB (DNCB + GS:GC:BSP = 3:1:1 mixture)-1-treated groups compared with the other treated groups. The weight of the spleen in immune organs was significantly decreased in the GGB-1-treated groups, whereas the weight of the liver in a control group was similar to that of the groups treated with the samples. Furthermore, toluidine blue staining analysis, a method used to specifically identify mast cells, showed that master cell infiltration into the dermis of the GGB-1-treated group was significantly decreased. The immunoglobulin E concentration was lower in the GGB-1-treated group. In addition, the levels of inflammatory cytokines (interferon-${\gamma}$, interleukin-1, 4, 5, 6, and 13, $1{\beta}$, and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$) were also significantly reduced in the GGB-1-treated group. Taken together, these results suggest that a mixture of GS, GC, and BSP in a proportion of 3:1:1 (GGB-1) may contribute to the relief of AD symptoms and may be considered an excellent candidate for an AD therapeutic drug.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.283-288
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• 2010

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) has been used as important edible and medicinal natural resource in worldwide and D. alata L. is most popular nourishment among the yam. In this study the composition, color, antioxidation and antimicrobial activity of D. alata Gyeongbuk No. 6 (GB-6), which was established in Gyeongbuk Agricultural Research & Extension Services, Andong, Korea, was compared to those of D. batatas Gyeongbuk No. 1 (GB-1), a major domestic cultivation species. Water content of GB-6 was $78.02{\pm}0.16%$, which is slightly lower than that of GB-1 ($82.6{\pm}0.07%$). The contents of crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber and ash of GB-6 were 0.95, 0.26, 0.85 and 0.70%, whereas those of GB-1 were 1.58, 0.15, 1.39 and 0.88%, respectively. Analysis of color using colormeter showed that the GB-6 is slight dark-yellow than GB-1, and total polyphenol content of GB-6 was 2-fold higher compared than that of GB-1. Sequential organic solvent fractions from methanol extract of GB-6 showed that the ethylacetate fraction has highest total polyphenol ($144.1{\pm}3.20\;mg/g$). Determination of antioxidation activity showed that the ethylacete fraction and water fraction has strong DPPH radical scavenging activity ($IC_{50}=78.32\;{\mu}g/mL$) and reducing power, respectively. In antimicrobial activity assay, the n-hexane and ethylacetate fraction showed antibacterial activity against B. subtilis, L.monocytogenes, S. epidermidis, S. aureus, P. vulgaris, and S. typhimurium. These results provide the possibility of domestic cultivated D. alata GB-6 as a healthy food.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.59-78
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• 2009

Objective : This study was designed to examine the effects of stem bark extracts of Cornus walteri Wanger on the lipid lowering, anti-oxidative activity and concentration of proinflammatory cytokines in hyperlipidemic rat. Methods : Male rats weighing $195.21{\pm}5.85g$ fed high fat diet for 8 weeks and 40 rats(above 400 g) were divided into 4 groups. Each groups were divided into a control group and 3 experimental groups. We fed a control group of rats a basal diet and administered normal saline(100 mg/kg, 1 time/1 day) for 4 weeks. And we fed each experimental group of rats Basal diet and administered an extract of Cornus walteri Wanger(100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, 300 mg/kg, 1 time/1 day) for 4 weeks. At the end of the experiment, the rats were sacrificed to determine their chemical composition. We measured lipid of plasma and liver, concentration of proinflammatory cytokines, anti-oxidative activity and gene expression. Results : 1. Concentration of plasma free fatty acid, LDL-cholesterol showed a tendency to decrease in Cornus walteri Wanger ext. groups. Concentration of plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol showed a significantly decrement in all Cornus walteri Wanger ext. group than that of control group. HDL-cholesterol showed a significantly increment in the 300 mg/kg Cornus walteri Wanger ext. group. 2. Concentration of liver total cholesterol showed a tendence to decrease in Cornus walteri Wanger ext. groups. Concentration of triglyceride liver showed a significantly decrement in all Cornus walteri Wanger ext. group than that of control group. 3. Concentration of plasma and liver TBARS showed a tendence to decrease in Cornus walteri Wanger ext. groups. The values of GSH-Px, SOD and CAT activity showed a significantly increment in the 300 mg/kg Cornus walteri Wanger ext. group than that of control group. 4. The values of plasma AST and ALT activity showed no significantly different in all treatment groups. 5. Concentration of plasma $IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6 and $TNF-{\alpha}$ showed a tendency to decrease in the Cornus walteri Wanger ext. groups. However the concentration of IL-10 in the 200 and 300 mg/kg Cornus walteri Wanger ext. groups showed a significantly increment than that of control group. Concentration of liver $IL-1{\beta}$, $TNF-{\alpha}$ and IL-10 showed no significantly difference in all treatment groups. However concentration of IL-6 in the 200 and 300 mg/kg Cornus walteri Wanger ext. groups showed a significantly decrement than that of control group. 6. In the analysis of RT-PCR, gene expression of $TNF-{\alpha}$, Apo-B, Apo-E and leptin in the Cornus walteri Wanger ext. groups showed a lower expression than that of control group. 7. The ratio of $TNF-{\alpha}$, Apo-E and leptin expression per $\beta$-actin expression in the 200 and 300 mg/kg Cornus walteri Wanger ext. showed a significantly decrement than that of control group. The ratio of Apo-B expression per $\beta$-actin expression in the 300 mg/kg Cornus walteri Wanger ext. showed a significantly decrement than that of control group. Conclusions : According to above results, in lowering lipid effect, antioxidative activity and antiinflammatory effect, the Cornus walteri Wanger ext. gives positive effect.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.38 no.11
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• pp.1571-1579
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• 2009

Antioxidant activities of ethanol and water extracts from Orostachys japonicus leaf, stem, and root were determined by rancimat method, DPPH radical scavenging effect, chelating effect, and reducing power analysis. The highest total phenolic compound (TPC) as 14.6 mg/g of dry sample and the strongest antioxidant activity in rancimat method (value of AI 1.98), DPPH radical scavenging effect (96% in 4 mg/mL), and reducing power (1.50 in 4 mg/mL) were observed in ethanol extracts from Orostachys japonicus leaf. Heat and pH stabilities on antioxidant activity of Orostachys japonicus leaf extract were studied through TPC and DPPH radical scavenging effect. As a result, the extracts from Orostachys japonicus leaf showed high stability. These results suggest that extracts from Orostachys japonicus leaf can be potentially used as proper natural antioxidant in the food industry.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.407-415
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• 2014

Genetic determinism of human behaviors is considered as a philosophical perspective that genes in humans determine biological as well as social traits. However, many biologists agree that human traits are determined by interactions between genes and genes, as well as between genes and environments. In this context, genetic determinism still affect ideas of the general public as well as research directions of biologists. According to Cl$\acute{e}$ment's KVP model (Cast$\acute{e}$ra & Cl$\acute{e}$ment, 2012), teachers' conceptions of genetic determinism influence students' concepts of genetics. This study intends to investigate teachers' conceptions on genetic determinism of human behaviors. For this end, a questionnaire adopted from a previous research (Cast$\acute{e}$ra & Cl$\acute{e}$ment, 2012) has been administered to 308 teachers including 151 pre-service and 157 in-service. Factor analysis has been conducted to extract major factors and one-way ANOVA has been employed to find out differences in extracted factors among different groups of teachers. Four factors have been extracted from 14 items of questionnaire, including factor 1, a perspective of genetic determinism of gender differences in intellectual ability, social status, and emotional traits; factor 2, a perspective of genetic determinism of individual differences in intellectual ability; factor 3, a perspective of genetic determinism of individual differences in biological immune function and behavioral trait; and factor 4, a perspective of genetic determinism of ethnic differences. From the results of One-way ANOVA among teacher groups on four factors, first, it has shown a significant difference in factor 1 (F=3.325, p=.006), factor 3 (F=3.320, p=.006) and factor 4 (F=4.325, p=.001) due to their subject matters. In post-hoc comparison there have been no significant difference between biology teachers and other teachers. It has also been found that there was a significant difference between pre-service and in-service teachers in factor 1 (t=-3.938, p=.000) and factor 4 (t=-3.121, p=.002) and in-service teachers are more genetic deterministic than pre-service teachers. Finally, different religions have no influence on teachers' conceptions of genetic determinism of human behaviors.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.347-355
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• 1999

Background: Phospholipase C(PLC) plays a central role in cellular signal transduction and is important in cellular growth, differentiation and transformation. There are currently ten known mammalian isozymes of PLC reported to this date. Hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate($PIP_2$) by PLC produces two important second messengers, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate($IP_3$) and diacylglycerol. PLC-${\gamma}1$, previously, was known to be activated mainly through growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase. Other mechanisms of activating PLC-yl have been reported such as activation through tau protein in the presence of arachidonic acid in bovine brain and activation by $IP_3$, phosphatidic acid, etc. Very recently, another PLC-${\gamma}1$ activator protein such as tau has been found in bovine lung tissue, which now is considered to be AHNAK protein. But there has been no report concerning AHNAK and its associated disease to this date. In this study, we examined the expression of the PLC-${\gamma}1$ activator, AHNAK, in lung cancer specimens and their paired normal. Methods: From surgically resected human lung cancer tissues taken from twenty-eight patients and their paired normal counterparts, we evaluated expression level of AHNAK protein using immunoblot analysis of total tissue extract Immunohistochemical stain was performed with primary antibody against AHNAK protein. Results: Twenty-two among twenty-eight lung cancer tissues showed overexpression of AHNAK protein (eight of fourteen squamous cell lung cancers, all of fourteen adenocarcinomas). The resulting bands were multiple ranging from 70 to 200 kDa in molecular weight and each band was indistinct and formed a smear, reflecting mobility shift mainly due to proteolysis during extraction process. On immunohistochemistry, lung cancer tissues showed a very heavy, dense staining with anti-AHNAK protein antibody as compared to the surrounding normal lung tissue, coresponding well with the results of the western blot Conclusion: The overexpression of PLC-${\gamma}1$ activator protein, AHNAK in lung cancer may provide evidence that the AHNAK protein and PLC-${\gamma}1$ act in concerted manner in carcinogenesis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.525-530
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• 2011

Pine needles have long been used as a traditional health-promoting medicinal food in Korea. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of pine needle extracts on the antioxidant activity, and proliferation of osteoclastic RAW 264.7 cells. Pine needle extracts were examined using hot water, ethanol, hexane, hot water-ethanol, and hot water-hexane. The effects of the pine needle extracts were examined by comparing the results with that of a commercial agents, proanthocyanidin. Analysis of each extract indicated that hot water-ethanol and ethanol extracts contained the highest total polyphenol concentrations. The hot water-ethanol and ethanol extracts also showed relatively the highest SOD-like activity. The proliferation of osteoclastic RAW 264.7 cells treated with pine needle extracts was decreased by lower than 70%. In addition, the hot water and ethanol extracts of pine needle significantly reduced the number of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-positive ($TRAP^+$) multinucleated cells from osteoclatic RAW 264.7 cells. These results indicate that pine needle extracts had an anabolic effect on bone through the promotion of osteoclast differentiation, suggesting that they could be used for the treatment of common metabolic bone diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.517-524
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• 2011

Eleven polyphenolic compounds, including procatechuic and chlorogenic acids, (+)-dihydroquercetin, rutin, isoquercitrin, quercitrin, (+)-dihydrokaempferol, trans-resveratrol, moracin, quercetin and 4-prenylmoracin were isolated and purified from the methanolic extract of defatted mulberry seed residue by a series of column chromatography including silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and ODS-A, and their chemical structures were identified by spectral analysis. The antioxidant activities of the eleven isolated polyphenolic compounds were measured spectrophotometrically using DPPH radical. Among the eleven polyphenolic compounds tested, rutin ($IC_{50}=20.2\;{\mu}M$), isoquercitrin ($IC_{50}=22.5\;{\mu}M$), quercitrin ($IC_{50}=24.6\;{\mu}M$), quercetin ($IC_{50}=27.8\;{\mu}M$), (+)-dihydroquercetin ($IC_{50}=28.9\;{\mu}M$), and chlorogenic acid ($IC_{50}=30.6\;{\mu}M$) exhibited stronger antioxidant activity than L-ascorbic acid ($IC_{50}=31.5\;{\mu}M$) and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol ($IC_{50}=52.3\;{\mu}M$), whereas procatechuic acid ($IC_{50}=68.2\;{\mu}M$) showed lower activity. In addition, (+)-dihydrokaempferol ($IC_{50}=33.8\;{\mu}M$), trans-resveratrol ($IC_{50}=36.2\;{\mu}M$), moracin ($IC_{50}=47.6\;{\mu}M$), and 4-prenylmoracin ($IC_{50}=48.2\;{\mu}M$) exhibited moderate antioxidant activity. Furthermore, levels of the eleven polyphenolic compounds from three different types of mulberry seeds were quantified by HPLC, and their contents were as follows: rutin (311~60.0 mg/100 g)> quercitrin (7.2~34.2 mg/100 g)> (+)-dihydroquercetin (13.2~33.1 mg/100 g)> quercetin (15.8~19.5 mg/100 g)> 4-prenylmoracin (10.5~43.3 mg/100 g)> isoquercitrin (5.8~15.4 mg/100 g)> chlorogenic acid (0.0~15.3 mg/100 g)> moracin (4.7~7.2 mg/100 g)> procatechuic acid (0.0~11.6 mg/100 g)> (+)-dihydrokaempferol and trans-resveratrol (<0.1 mg/100 g). The 'Daesungppong' mulberry seeds among the three cultivars had higher flavonoid contents, such as rutin and quercetin derivatives, while the 'Iksuppong' seeds had the highest contents of phenolic acids and moracin derivatives. 'Cheongilppong' had lower amounts of polyphenolic compounds than the other two mulberry seeds. These results indicate that mulberry seeds containing antioxidant polyphenolic compounds may be potentially useful sources of anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, and anti-aging agents for functional foods and cosmetics.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2015

Anti-obese effects of mulberry (Morus alba L.) root bark was investigated in vitro by measuring its inhibitory effect against 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation and digestive enzymes such as ${\alpha}$-amylase, ${\alpha}$-glucosidase and pancreatic lipase. Ethanol extract of mulberry root bark (MRE) showed the potent inhibitory activities on ${\alpha}$-amylase, ${\alpha}$-glucosidase and pancreatic lipase with $IC_{50}$ values of $7.86{\pm}0.36$, $0.12{\pm}0.03$ and $7.93{\pm}0.11mg/mL$, respectively. Furthermore, MRE significantly suppressed cellular lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells in a dose-dependent manner. To elucidate the mechanism of MRE, we performed qRT-PCR and Western blotting for the expression of genes related with adipogenesis and lipogenesis. Treatment of MRE markedly suppressed the protein expression of $PPAR{\gamma}$, $C/EBP{\alpha}$ and SREBP-1c, as well as FAS and ACC, which are the key transcription factors and metabolic enzymes in adipogenesis and lipogenesis. In addition, qRT-PCR analysis indicated that the anti-adipogenesis effect of MRE might be due to its inhibition at transcription levels. These results demonstrate that MRE can effectively suppress adipocyte differentiation and inhibit key enzymes related to obesity. Our findings suggest that mulberry root bark may have a potential benefit in preventing obesity.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.333-338
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• 2004

Antioxidant activities of water extracts of 20 medicinal plants (1 mg/mL) on peroxidation of linolic acid were evaluated by thiocyanate method, among which 11 showed strong antioxidant activity (> 70%). Higher hydroxy radical scavenging activity (> 60%) were shown in Corner officinalis, Acanthopanax sessiliflorus, and Epimedium koreanum than the other plants. Epimedium koreanum than the other plants extract showed highest superoxide radical scavenging activity (42%). Total polyphenol contents ranged from $2.6\;(Polygonatum\;odoratum){\sim}81.2(Epimedium\;koreanum)\;mg/g$. Direct correlation between the antioxidant activity and polyphenol content (r=0.8) was established through simple regression analysis. $IC_{50}$ for selected four plant extracts, showing highest polyphenol contents and antioxidant activities, were significantly higher than positive control. Total antioxidant activity of vitamin c was significantly lower than those of Acanthopanax sessiliflorus, Epimedium koreanum, and Erythrina variegata. Superoxide radical scavenging activity of Acanthopanax sessiliflorus was similar to BHA. Results suggest water extracts of some medicinal plants could be potential candidates for natural antioxidants.